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WPCNR Common Council Chronicle-Examiner. By John F. Bailey. May 29, 2003, UPDATED 10:00 P.M. E.D.T.: In Executive Session last night, the Common Council hammered out the details of a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and Tony Stimac, Artistic Director of The Helen Hayes Theatre Company of Nyack, and Jeffrey Rosenstock, Artistic Director of Queens Theatre in the Park, Flushing, Queens, to hire the two-man partnership of the two veteran “regional theatre producers” to manage and program the new White Plains Performing Arts Center.
Common Council President Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR tonight the council felt the existing “infrastructure” of the two organizations reduced the amount of investment the city would have to make in the theatre, and that was one of the key factors why the Council, in what Mr. Boykin said was “a consensus” went with Mr. Stimac and Mr. Rosenstock: “They can use the staffs in their present organizations to sell tickets and market the theatre, so the city contribution does not have to be as much.”
Boykin said he expected Mr. Stimac and Mr. Rosenstock would become involved in the “look” of the facility, which is the next issue, Boykin said the Council would be paying close attention to.
“THE PRODUCERS”
Tony Stimac, Artistic Director of The Helen Hayes Theatre Company, in Nyack, and Jeffrey Rosenstock, Artistic Director of the Queens Theatre In the Park, Flushing, as they addressed the Common Council May 19 where they impressed the Council with their programming “synergy” and savvy.
Photo by WPCNR News
George Gretsas, the Mayor’s Executive Officer said this evening that the Mayor and the Common Council had come to agreement to enter into the “Memorandum of Understanding” and put the agreement on Monday evening’s Common Council agenda for an official vote. Gretsas said the public would have an opportunity to comment on the city’s selection and the terms of agreement at Monday evening’s meeting, but that the vote did not require an official public hearing. Terms of the Memorandum of Understanding will be spelled out in the release of the Common Council agenda Friday morning.
The WPPAC is being built into the new City Center, now under construction by Cappelli Enterprises. No other suitor was negotiated with by the city, after initial financials were presented by all three hopefuls May 19.
EMERGING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION: Council Benjamin Boykin, left, and Robert Greer as they left the approximately 2-1/2 Executive Session Wednesday night, in which the Memorandum of Understanding was finalized with Mr. Stimac. Mr. Stimac was spotted by WPCNR emerging from Executive Session at 9:40 PM Thursday evening at City Hall.
Photo by WPCNR News
The agreement in principle was confirmed today by City Hall officially at 6 PM by Gretsas. Mr. Rosenstock and Mr. Stimac have formed a private partnership to manage the theatre. They are the last entity into the race for the project of managing the White Plains Arts Center.
They were selected over two White Plains groups seeking to run the theatre: Westco Productions, headed by Susan Katz and Centerpoint Stage, a consortium organized by Jonathan Mann, currently with the Westchester Arts Council.
City Committed to a $100,000 Theatre Operating Budget.
As part of the running of the theatre, Gretsas said, the city has set aside a budget of $100,000 for the operators of the theatre. Gretsas reported that the actual name of Mr. Stimac’s and Mr. Rosenstock’s organization has not been determined, and that the next step, according to his understanding, was to form a non-profit organization to run the White Plains Performing Arts Center.
Gretsas told WPCNR this evening that in addition to the $100,000 city commitment, that the city would be responsible for utilities, sanitation, and “general responsibilities” associated with city-owned facilities.
PIONEERS OF CREATIVITY IN A DEMANDING MARKET: Mr. Stimac, left, and Mr. Rosenstock have pioneered, founded and created two “small theatres” in the competitive New York metropolitan area: The Helen Hayes Theatre Company and Queens Theatre In the Park.
Photo by WPCNR News
Mr. Stimac took over a foundering restoration of the Nyack theatre in 1996, and through his efforts renamed it The Helen Hayes Theatre Company, organizing both financing and producing the programming. The theatre has a schedule this year that premiers new plays, stages popular revivals, and tries out Broadway bound productions, one of Mr. Stimac’s fortes.
This season, the Helen Hayes will premier Jackie Mason’s new musical Laughing Room Only; and is currently premiering Swango: The Fusion a new dance spectacular. Also on the fall “playbill” is a premiere of The Mancini Project, a dance and musical extravaganza with storyline featuring the music of Henry Mancini. Revivals to be staged include It Had to Be You and The Music Man at the holiday season.
More about Mr. Stimak’s Helen Hayes operation can be learned by visiting their website at www.hhtco.org.
A Theatre in Queens That Competes with Manhattan.
Mr. Rosenstock is the creator of Queens Theatre in the Park, an operation of his conception that turned the vacant New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadow Park, site of the 1964 World’s Fair, into a thriving theatre serving diverse ethnic populations of Queens, and introducing hot new properties to New York theatre aficionados.
Rosenstock, is a well-connected individual, who sits on the New York State Council of the Arts, has fund-raised and produced for the theatre, since he founded it in 1989. A lively, enthusiastic visionary of the theatre, he brings with Mr. Stimac an understanding and a pipeline of funding sources, state and federal, who believe in his vision.
Commissioner of Recreation & Parks, Arne Abramowitz, was in charge of Flushing Meadow Park where QTP is based, and is familiar with Mr. Rosenstock’s work with the Queens community.
This spring, Queens Theatre In the Park produced Dames at Sea, a new musical about the 30s, and in the summer produces new plays. Rosenstock is also founder of ethnic festivals that are held every year at the QTP, including the first Latin Festival in the United States which he founded in 1996.
A sampling of the spectrum of arts Queens Theatre In the Park offers its community under the baton of Mr. Rosenstock can be seen on the QTP website at www.queenstheatre.org.
Wanted: A Local Impresario.
In their presentation to the Common Council May 19, Messrs Stimac and Rosenstock said they would hire a full-time manager to run the day-to-day operations of the White Plains Performing Arts Center, coordinate with community groups, and execute the marketing and advertising programs. They said they would work with the manager to program the theatre, drawing upon productions they are staging in their own theatres. “The Producers” said the key to small theatres being successful was “synergy,” working together to share productions and give the widest possible venue exposure to a production in the area. They said at the May 19 meeting with the Council that there were great possibilities of sharing productions at their two existing theatres and by seeking playdates from other similar “small theatres” around the Northeast.
Promised: A Premiere Week.
Rosenstock reported at that May 19 meeting that he envisioned a weeklong opening festival at the White Plains Performing Arts Center when it opened in the fall, building a weeklong series of performances of local groups around one major professional performance, as one idea he had in mind for “Premiere Week.”
Stimac said May 19 that he would be taking a leave of absence for two months in July from his Helen Hayes “watch,” to devote full-time to organizing the opening of the White Plains Performing Arts Center, and would be taking a similar leave in November and December. Rosenstock said he had informed his Executive Director of his possibility of creating the White Plains Theatre company, and said he had received encouragement.
Mr. Stimac is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England. He has directed over 120 productions at showplaces in London, on Off-Broadway, in summer stock and regional theatres, including The McCarton, Roundabout Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, and Cincinnati Theatre in the Park. He knows the regional audience, having produced 700 shows at the John Drew Theatre at Guild Hall in East Hampton.
Mr. Stimac has a track record for what works artistically and commercially, blending nicely with the White Plains Performing Arts Center desire to produce new works. As founder of Musical Theatre Works in 1983, he had produced 49 world premieres of new musicals and 275 staged readings. Of those productions, 40 have gone to Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theatres.
When asked, Mr. Gretsas could not recall whether the Queens group had been in the list of approximately 15 organizations originally informed about the Request for Proposals by the city theatre consultant, Duncan Webb.
Westco Productions and Centerpoint Stage have been informed of the Common Council’s decision, subject to confirming vote Monday, to strike a deal with Mr. Stimak and Mr. Rosenstock.
